City Of Tulsa, Airbnb Tax Agreement To Benefit Economy

<p>The city of Tulsa said a new tax agreement between them and Airbnb will help bring big events to town without dipping into taxpayer pockets.   </p>

Wednesday, February 14th 2018, 5:35 pm

By: News On 6

City Of Tulsa, Airbnb Tax Agreement To Benefit Economy

The city of Tulsa said a new tax agreement between them and Airbnb will help bring big events to town without dipping into taxpayer pockets.

Nick Doctor with the City of Tulsa said that starting next month, Airbnb’s will be put on a much more even playing field with local hotels.

The new agreement announced Wednesday means Airbnb will collect a 5% lodging tax and that money will feed back into the city coffers.

Doctor said before this agreement, Airbnb hosts were basically operating as smaller hotels, but there's been no way for them to pay the tax.

The agreement with Airbnb will make it easier to do so and it'll benefit the Tulsa economy too.

"For Tulsans, they won't notice a thing. But what this means is additional revenue coming into the city from the guests that are coming to Tulsa and staying here," said Doctor.

Doctor said the lodging tax fund helps pay for things like the BOK center and it'll help marketing bring bigger and better events to the city.

The new tax goes into effect on March 1st.